Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I will make a short comment, thank you, Mr Chairman. I am sorry I could not be here for the second reading stage of the bill, but I do support this bill. I think that announcing this royal commission will be a lasting legacy of this government. I congratulate the government for getting on with this. It is very important for those who have suffered to ensure that there is a process for the healing to begin, and I think that what the government has established here is welcome. I think that having multiple hearings is something that is very welcome. Those multiple hearings are in the sense that we have a number of commissioners and that there can be hearings held in a number of states, because if only one commissioner were hearing the evidence then we would be in a situation where this could go on and on for a number of years. I think the multiple commissioners will clearly expedite the work of this royal commission.

What I want to ask the minister in relation to this particular exemption is whether he could walk us through it briefly in terms of the privacy of practice sessions and the amendments that affect the Freedom of Information Act. How will this help facilitate the work of the royal commission, and what weight of evidence will there be for those private sessions? In other words, if evidence is given in a private session, what constraints will there be on the royal commission in referring to that publicly? If that information indicates an allegation of a criminal offence, will that information be forwarded as a matter of course to the authorities? I just want to understand in a constructive sense how it would work. If Senator Farrell, who as parliamentary secretary has the conduct of this, can give a brief explanation then that would be useful, I think, in the context of how the royal commission would work, because so far I have been encouraged by what the government has proposed in terms of the structures and the like but I think it is important to know, if it can be put into context, how the privacy of the private sessions will operate, what weight will be given to those and also how the Freedom of Information Act amendment will operate in the scheme of this particular amendment.